August was a bonanza-beach-bonus month for me. I gave myself time to devour a total of 15 books, of which nine were mysteries, my comfort food of reading. In case you’re not as enthralled with that genre as I am, I divided my list into two parts.

This post brings me almost up to date with my reading record!

NON-MYSTERIES

Firmin by Sam Savage (Fiction)
Firmin is a rat born in the basement of a Scolley Square bookstore in Boston in the early 1960s. His mother is an alcoholic and eventually deserts the family. Driven by hunger, Firmin makes a diet of Zane Grey, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Jane Eyre. Strangely, as Firmin eats, he takes in the words (and meanings), becoming an extremely literate rat.
Told from Firmin’s point of view, the book is by turns hilarious, tragic and hopeful. I really liked the story and loved the cover, with its bite-size medallion taken out of the side. Best cover of my year, I’m sure, and a great example of the need for print books.
Read this if: you love the classics, or books in general. Basically, if you’re reading this post, you should read Firmin. 4½ stars

Practical Jean by Trevor Cole (Fiction, Canadian)
Jean Horemarsh has just returned to living with her husband after three months spent caring for her mother as she died of cancer. After watching her mother die, Jean is convinced no one should have to suffer the indignities of aging and illness like her mother did—and she, Jean Horemarsh, will take it upon herself to give each of her friends one final, perfect moment . . . and then, one by one, kill them.
The 2011 winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, Practical Jean is wickedly funny and thought-provoking.
Read this if: you appreciate irony, or a darker shade of humour.
4½ stars

Heading Home: On Starting a New Life in a Country Place by Lawrence Scanlan (Non-fiction, Memoir, Country Living, Canadian)

You may know that my husband and I exchanged big city living for life in rural Nova Scotia nine years ago, so I’m always interested in books/memoirs about moving to the country. Scanlan, who moved from the city of Kingston to the village of Camden East, Ontario (pop. 250) has written one of the best I’ve encountered.
The book’s twelve chapters, each devoted to one month, chronicle a year in the life of the village. Heading Home is a beautiful piece of narrative non-fiction, yet it is packed with extremely practical advice for anyone yearning to start over in a country place.
Read this if: you are contemplating country life – or if you just wonder what it’s like. 4½ stars

A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dergatz (Fiction, Canadian)
When Gail Anderson-Dargatz showed the manuscript of A Recipe for Bees to her divorced parents, it caused them to reconsider their sixteen-year separation. “My parents, Eric and Irene, are models for Karl and Augusta in many ways. I set out to show them how extraordinary their seemingly ordinary lives were.” She interviewed them during the writing of the book and as they read the work in progress, they began to talk about unresolved problems(…) Her parents were remarried on Christmas Day, 1998, some fifty years after their first marriage.
This is a lovely anecdote but it doesn’t really surprise me. A Recipe for Bees is a masterful examination of relationships, primarily the one between Augusta and her husband. At its heart are the life, death, and resurrection of an extraordinary marriage. With lots of beekeeping lore, this Giller Prize nominated (1998) story is as sweet as honey.
Read this if: you believe that the bonds of marriage should hold, for better or for worse. 4 stars

The Absolutist by John Boyne (Fiction, WWI)
“It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it.”
Most reviewers love this book. I’m more ‘meh’. The writing is superb and the story unfolds with just the right amount of tension from beginning to end. But I wasn’t blown away by the climax. I understand Will’s stand and determination to stick to it despite the consequences, and Tristan’s actions didn’t make any difference to the outcome. Maybe I’ve just read too many WWI novels recently.
Read this if: you enjoy WWI stories; you’re interested the relationships between soldiers during wartime; or if you approve of war in principle. 3½ stars

The Doll’s House by Rumer Godden (Children’s Chapter book)
The activities, sorrows, and joys of a family of dolls living in an old doll house are related from the dolls’ point of view.
It’s rather dated, but charming. Read this if: you ever played with a dollhouse – or wanted to (and who didn’t?) 3 stars

* * * * *

* * * * *

MYSTERIES

The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn
“Combining suspense and intrigue with a wonderfully humorous take on the link between man and beast, Spencer Quinn’s exceptional mystery series has captured widespread praise since its New York Times bestselling debut, Dog on It”. In the fourth entry in the series, The Dog Who Knew Too Much, canine Chet becomes the focus of dognappers, while his partner Bernie is looking for a boy who has gone missing from a wilderness camp in the high country. The Dog Who Knew Too Much is classic Spencer Quinn, offering page-turning entertainment that’s not just for dog-lovers.
I love this series featuring Bernie Little and his dog Chet who narrates the books. The mysteries are always suspenseful and solidly developed. But it’s Chet who makes this series. His love of life is exhilarating for me.
Read this if: you love dogs and mysteries – or if you just love dogs – or if you just like mysteries. (I really can’t be objective about Chet.) 4½ stars

Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear
The Maisie Dobbs series has been described by USA Today as ‘less whodunits than why-dunits, more P.D. James than Agatha Christie’ (USA Today) I’ve followed this series since Maisie debuted as a newly discharged WWI nurse in 1919, through Maisie’s growth during the 1920s. I particularly appreciate that Maisie’s life – her circumstances, her friendships, her personality with both strengths and flaws—has not remained static but has developed naturally as it might have in her time and place.

Set in 1933 London Elegy for Eddie, the ninth and latest Maisie Dobbs offering, has Maisie investigating the brutal killing of a street peddler from the working-class neighborhood of her childhood. It’s one of the best in a super series.
Read this: after you’ve read the rest of the series. Yes, each book in the series stands alone, but they’ll have greater impact if you’ve watched Maisie grow. If the period in Britain between the World Wars intrigues you, or you enjoy a strong but flawed female protagonist, you’ll particularly enjoy this series. 4 stars
.
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear
In the eighth book in the Maisie Dobbs series, A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie is working for the Secret Service at a pacifist college in Cambridge. The Secret Service is particularly suspicious of what they see as the country’s biggest threat: communism, while basically ignoring the rise of fascism and Nazism.
This is a solid entry in this series, and one with a slightly different perspective for Maisie. 4 stars

Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
The ‘folly’ of the title is actually an architectural term defined as “an eccentric, generally non-functional structure erected to enhance a romantic landscape.” Of course, the play on words using the more commonly understood meaning of the word is intentional. In this classic Christie, Adriadne Oliver arranges a mock Murder Hunt for charity and calls in her friend Hercule Poirot when a real body is discovered. Although this was published in 1956, it has the feel of one of Christie’s slightly older stories: the classic country estate, the Lord & Lady, the house guests, and so on.
In addition to the word play of the title, there is the gentle mockery of Christie herself, on whom Ariadne Oliver is said to be based. So she sets up a murder and doesn’t know who the murderer is. Very well-done, excellently clued but still perplexing mystery.
Read this if: you’re looking for a classic English country whodunit set in the mid-twentieth century. 4 stars

The Tragedy of Z by Ellery Queen (Barnaby Ross)
This is the third in the Drury Lane series (the Tragedies of X,Y &Z). Drury Lane is a blind, retired stage actor and a good friend of (the fictional) Ellery Queen. This was published in 1933, is melodramatic but oh-so-elegant. The mystery is fairly clued, but very difficult. I don’t think I’ve ever solved a novel-length Ellery Queen. 3½ stars

At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
Miss Jane Marple takes a two week holiday at Bertram’s Hotel, of which she has fond childhood memories. So! It’s 1965 and Bertram’s hasn’t changed since King Edward V’s time. And that, dear reader, is part of the mystery. Although the hotel seems charming at first, it takes on a sinister face. There’s a great cast of vintage Christie characters, but Jane Marple plays only a peripheral part in the whole investigation.
Read this if: you’d like to see Christie acknowledge the modern world encroaching on her country-house-cozy formula that was successful and more or less unchanged for decades. 3 stars

QBI by Ellery Queen
A 1955 collection of EQ’s short stories, titled Queen’s Bureau of Investigation. The only one I came close to solving was the first one and it was over before I realized I wasn’t reading a full-length novel. Very enjoyable quick read – and it fulfilled two of my reading challenges – the ‘Q’ title in A-Z Reading Challenge and the ‘1955’ in Read the First Years of your Life Challenge.
Read this if: you enjoy short mysteries such as those found in Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock magazine; or want short, intelligent challenges. 3 stars

Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
This book, published in 1934 is only the second P.A. Taylor I’ve read (the other was the debut in the series). We meet a different middle-aged spinster narrator who stumbles into a murder and happens to have handyman Asey Mayo at hand. This is a closed room mystery in that the culprit has to be one of the Tavern’s (aka Inn) guests. Or does it? There are a lot of comings and goings and secret passages for a house under police observation. It’s that that weakens the enjoyability of this mystery. I can suspend my disbelief only so far.
Read this if: you’re a fan of this series, or of tart New England ways. 2½ stars

Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie
In the 1973 Postern of Fate, we find Tommy & Tuppence Beresford retired and having just bought a new-to-them old house. There is an old mystery (from WWII) connected with the house, but the point of the book (if there is one) seems to be to catalogue all the books that Christie read and loved as a child. The writing, quite uncharacteristic of Christie, sounds as if the author was a doddering old woman (well, she was 83) who was dictating a vague idea of a story. (But, where were her editors?!) The book meanders, repeats, meanders some more. It was maddening, and I finished it only because it fulfilled two of my more difficult reading challenges – Birth Year Reading Challenge, and Vintage Mysteries – Lethal Locations. (Who knew that the “Postern of Fate’ was a gate into Damascus?)
Read this if: you are a complete Christie freak and want to know all about her childhood reading, or must read all of her work. Otherwise – don’t read this. 1 star for the Christie connection

Links for my CANADIAN readers:
Firmin
Practical Jean
Heading Home
A Recipe for Bees
The Absolutist
The Dolls’ House
The Dog Who Knew Too Much
Elegy For Eddie
A Lesson in Secrets
Dead Man’s Folly
The Tragedy of Z
At Bertram’s Hotel
QBI
Mystery Of The Cape Cod Tavern
Postern Of Fate

KINDLE editions:
Firmin
Practical Jean
A Recipe for Bees
The Absolutist
The Dolls’ House
The Dog Who Knew Too Much
Elegy for Eddie:
A Lesson in Secrets
Dead Man’s Folly
At Bertram’s Hotel
Postern of Fate

AUDIOBOOKS:
The Absolutist
At Bertram’s Hotel: A BBC Full-Cast Radio Drama

Yes – I’m still behind, but I’m running to catch up before I take some time off later this month. (What have I been doing until now, you ask, if not taking time off? Well, I’ve been busy with non-bookish things – and reading, of course.)

It took me ten days to get through Jane Eyre, so my reading list for July is pretty slim, and since it’s been over two months since I read any of these, my comments are short, if not sweet.

419 by Will Ferguson
Even though this Giller Prize short-listed novel opens in western Canada, the story is international. For into what part of the globe have the email scams that originate in Nigeria not penetrated? Here’s my review. 4 stars

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Widely reviewed, and winner of the 2011 Booker prize, this is hailed as a “novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting(.) The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning new chapter in Julian Barnes’s oeuvre.”. I dunno – maybe I expected too much. I couldn’t warm to the protagonist, and his discoveries just didn’t shake me. 3½ stars

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Too bad I missed this classic in my early teens – I would have loved it then: the romance, the period detail, the discovery of words. Now I think, “Attempted bigamy & gross deceit, and too many words.” 3½ stars

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesay
Modern retelling of Jane Eyre. Sure, the basic plot was determined for Livesay but I give her points for the Icelandic connection. And it didn’t take a week to read. If you like Jane Eyre, you’ll probably like this too. 3½ stars

An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd

The latest in the Bess Crawford mystery series, which I enjoy rather much. Bess is a nurse in WWI France, in this book dealing with (and falling temporary victim to) the Spanish flu. The period details seem spot on and the mystery was tight – a much better read than the authors’ previous outing in this series. 3½ stars

Falling Into Green by Cher Fischer
An ‘eco-mystery’, read on my Kindle. (How appropriate!) You can read my review here. 3 stars

Amazon links for For Canadian readers:
419
The Sense of an Ending
Jane Eyre
The Flight Of Gemma Hardy
An Unmarked Grave
Falling Into Green

Kindle editions:
The Sense of an Ending
Jane Eyre
The Flight of Gemma Hardy
An Unmarked Grave
Falling Into Green

If you’ve been around the Internet any length of time, no doubt you’ve received one of those Nigerian “I’ve millions in government money that needs to be smuggled out” or “please help this young girl escape her enemies” emails. These scams are called 419s. “The name comes from the section in the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with obtaining money or goods under false pretenses.” Hence, the title of Canadian writer Will Ferguson’s latest novel, which has been short-listed for Canada’s prestigious Giller prize

Divided into four sections (Snow, Sand, Fuel, Fire), 419 opens in wintry western Canada with the apparently accidental (or perhaps homicidal) death of Henry Curtis, retired father of two grown children. After police determine that her father deliberately drove his car over a cliff to his death, Laura Curtis resolves to find out what drove her father to suicide, and left her mother with no assets. When she discovers that he was the victim of a 419 crime, she becomes obsessed with finding the author of the emails.

Meanwhile, over in Nigeria, we follow the stories of Winston, the author of those emails; Nnamdi, a boy/man from a Delta village that thrived on fishing until Shell Oil took over their land and killed the fish & more; Amina, a young woman refugee from a desert tribe; and Ironsi-Egobia, a truly monstrous crime boss in Lagos. The five story lines meet and run parallel, intertwine with, and oppose each other until the book reaches the totally unexpected (at least by me) climax that is seared into my brain.

The plot development in 419 seemed a bit uneven to me, and when Amina’s tale began, I was bewildered. But the book was always easy to read and parts of the story will never leave me. It was perhaps coincidental that I was reading at the same time The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard, in which she explains the exploitation of third world people and natural resources by large corporations. Nnamdi’s village seemed to be an almost living example. Maybe 419 wouldn’t have affected me as strongly as it did if I hadn’t been reading Stuff. But I was, and it did.

So – memorable story, a clearer understanding of third world exploitation, new knowledge about 419 schemes and what drives some people to perpetrate them, and a tragic climax; but uneven character and plot development. I rate it a 3.5 stars for the writing and an extra half for the STORY.

Will it win the Giller Prize? I think not. (BUT – I was wrong – it did win the Giller!) Should you read it? Oh, yes, definitely. 4 stars

For American readers: 419

Sub-titled How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing Our Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health — and a Vision for Change

An expansion of the 20 minute Internet film of the same name, the book The Story of Stuff explores the five facets of the linear economic system in use in North American today: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. You might want to watch the video before reading on. I promise: it’s anything but dry.

The overall message of both book and video is that our current economic system is not sustainable—because it is linear, and because it trashes the planet and people at every step. And Leonard makes this point over and over again. Not that the book is repetitious. No, it is that one arrives at the same conclusion at every step of the process, when faced with the facts.

We all recognize that life in 1900 was a great deal different from the way it is now. In the first half of the twentieth century, productivity skyrocketed in ‘developed’ countries: the assembly line reduced the time required to create products and the rapidly diminishing cost of computing power allowed for greater and greater automation.

“With this huge increase in productivity, industrialized nations faced a choice: keep producing roughly the same amount of Stuff as before and work far less, or keep working the same number of hours as before, while continuing to produce as much as possible. As Juliet Schor explains in The Overworked American, after World War II, political and economic leaders—economists, business executives, and even labor union representatives—chose the latter: to keep churning out the “goods,”: keep working full-time, keep up the frenzied pace of an ever-expanding economy.”

In her introduction to her book, Leonard says: “The belief that infinite economic growth is the best strategy for making a better world has become like a secular religion in which all our politicians, economists, and media participate; it is seldom debated, since everyone is supposed to just accept it as true.”

Retailing analyst Victor Lebow, quoted in The Story of Stuff says: “our enormously productive economy…demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption…we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”

Leonard says in her film that a staggering 99% of what we bring into our homes today will be disposed of within six months. And our economic model has made this consuming easy: encouraging us with, among other things, buy-now-pay-later, planned & perceived obsolescence, & advertising.

Consumption is the mindset articulated by the chairman of President Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisors in the 1950s. He stated, “The American economy’s ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods.”

Think about that for a minute. Wouldn’t it be better, as Leonard points out, if the ultimate purpose of the economy would be to provide quality of life for citizens: good education, health-care, clean air, required infrastructure? As Leonard says: “Accepting and living by sufficiency rather than by excess offers a return to what is, culturally speaking, the human home: to the ancient order of family, community, good work, and a good life; (…) to a daily cadence slow enough to let us watch the sunset and stroll by the water’s edge; to communities worth spending a lifetime in(.)”

Leonard’s scenario is appealing – and many of us have reached a point in our lives where we are ‘simplifying’, often by getting rid of Stuff. “In today’s world, especially in the United States, we throw a ton of Stuff away. Out it goes—when we don’t know how to repair it, when we want to make room for new Stuff, or because we’re sick of the old Stuff. Sometimes we throw something out thinking it will be easier to replace later than to store it until we need it again. Sometimes we even consider throwing things away a cathartic activity and congratulate ourselves on a productive day of getting Stuff out of the house.”
Guilty as charged. It appears that simply getting rid of stuff is not the answer.

In the same quick, easy to understand and engaging manner that her film is presented, Leonard examines each step of the linear economic process in detail, providing greater particulars and statistics. Despite the details, the book is very readable (with the exception of the “production” step where the author almost lost me with the lists of toxic chemicals that are inserted into our stuff – the manufacturers’ fault, not the author’s). I liked this book so much that I bought a copy to loan to my friends, and to have on hand to refresh facts in my mind.

Since reading this at the beginning of the summer, I have been extremely conscious of what comes into my house – and even more so of what goes out. We’ve reduced our garbage to about half a bag per week. I have been diligent about finding homes for books, clothing and other items that I would have previously just tossed into the trash. (We’ve discovered that hard cover books are not accepted for recycling here in Nova Scotia but must be set out for ‘garbage’ (read ‘landfill’). We’ve solved this problem by removing all the hard covers and burning them, recycling the now “soft-cover” books.)

And I have talked about this book to whomever will listen.

But not everyone is happy with message of The Story of Stuff. Leonard has been accused of being anti-American, ant-capitalist, and unpatriotic. The American Family Association has condemned the video saying that it “implies Americans are greedy, selfish, cruel to the third world, and ‘use more than our share.’”

On the other side, the Story of Stuff project has been cited as a “successful portrayal of the problems with the consumption cycle”, and hailed as a ”model of clarity and motivation.”

If nothing else, The Story of Stuff has stirred up a great deal of controversy. 5 big stars

I urge you to read this book and talk about it to your family and friends. Do you agree with it or disagree? Is your “back up”? Is what the book promotes even feasible? Would you be willing to adjust to a lower standard of living (one that met all of your needs)? Tell me what you think.

P.S. And, yes, Leonard recognizes that books are a special case. “Books occupy an odd space in my relationship to Stuff: while I feel uncomfortable buying new clothes or electronics, I don’t hesitate to pick up the latest recommended title. I asked my friends about it and found I’m not alone in feeling like books are somehow exempt from the negative connotations of too much Stuff.” You probably feel the same way.

For Canadian readers: The Story of Stuff

I haven’t seen the movie version of this book but just read a brief review of it by Barbara on Views From the Countryside. But I did read the book before I started my blog, and thought you might be interested in the review I posted on LibraryThing at that time.

We Bought a Zoo is subtitled: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever

Given that, the story takes a little time to get off the ground. We find the author, a free-lance writer, living in rural southern France with his wife & two children and refinishing two dirt-floor stone barns. When word comes through his sister that a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside is for sale, the author & his extended family take action to purchase it. This is not an easy endeavour and the business details fill the first quarter of the book. Note also that a BBC film crew got wind of the endeavour and asked to film the process.

The thing is, I don’t think I’d like Benjamin Mee if I met him in person. He uprooted his family once, by selling their beloved flat in London to move to his personal idyll in France, and then again, back to England because, after all, HE’D always wanted to own a zoo and now his French dream wasn’t what he wanted after all. On both occasions, he overrode his wife Katherine. This was especially appalling to me the second time because Katherine was newly diagnosed with a brain tumour & receiving (excellent) treatment in France. The fact that his (possibly) dying wife wasn’t enthused about this new venture didn’t faze him a bit.

In addition, although Mee has experienced staff and certified professionals advising him, he ignores their advice in serious decisions at least twice that he reports. In both cases, things ended up favorably but, rather than be grateful for twists of fate that may have affected the situations, he boasts and struts.

But the story? Animal lovers, once you get past the purchase transaction, there’s plenty of goodies for you amidst the details of the continuing financial issues, grim living conditions (for the family), and Katherine’s disease and eventual death.

Imagine the day staff moved Tammy the tiger without proper restraint precaution, only to have the beast gain consciousness as they moved her. Mee describes the situation as being “beyond fear, to total calm”. But the fear lingered when, sometime later, Mee & his brother are startled by a large animal moving behind them while checking some reservoir pipes, & spring to defend their lives – against the neighbor’s cow. I believe they were less afraid when one of their younger wolves was running loose through the nearest town. And there is an amusing exposé: what happens “When Porcupines Go Bad”.

Perhaps the most likable animal in the zoo was Zak, the elderly alpha wolf, who “maintained his grip on the pack now, not with brute force, but through sheer charisma and experience.” The account of his surgery to save him from testicular cancer will be a source of angst among male readers and of glee to the women.

I would have loved to have seen more photographs of the animals Mee brings to life in his stories, but the colour pictures included are disappointing. Nearly half are of their project in France, and the ones of the animals include many that are not named in the book, and exclude many that are.

I really did learn a tremendous amount, though, about the running of a zoo. It’s a highly regulated & examined business – and an almost unimaginably expensive one to run. The money and the struggle to get it, manage it & plan for making it, are a major part of the book.

And, animal lovers with the same dream, please note that, despite the months of Herculean effort by Mee, his family & his staff, the zoo would not have succeeded financially if the BBC (whose film crew had been on location for those many months) had not run the four-part television series Titles “Ben’s Zoo” in November of their opening year. That brought more paying visitors and made endless opportunities for additional moneymaking venues such as this book (and ensuing movie rights). Without that, the zoo would have closed, broke, after the first summer and the animals would have been dispersed. In other words, “Kids, don’t try this at home!”

Should you read it? Even though I personally dislike the author, he does write well and the book held my attention from beginning to end. There are no bogged down bits – it’s all moving forward. If you like animals or are interested in learning about the world of zoos, then by all means – read it & enjoy! 3.5 stars

For Canadian readers:
We Bought a Zoo

I know, I know – I’m behind! It was a busy summer, and the longer I was away from blogging, the harder it was to break the silence. But please bear with me because my blog (besides being for your reading pleasure) is also my personal ‘books read’ record so I must post these.

I didn’t finish one book on my Kindle in June – I think I needed a break from it after my two week trip in May on which I read nothing but my Kindle. A couple of really good non-fiction titles topped my list in June, and I read some mystery titles to try to catch up on some reading challenges.

The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard

Subtitled The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-And How We Can Make It Better, this is an expansion on the 20 minute Internet movie of the same name. The book digs into the five facets of the linear economic system in use in North America. It’s amazing, it’s controversial and it’s has been haunting me all summer. I will be posting a full review of this. Watch the movie while you wait for it! 5 stars

UContent: The Information Professional’s Guide to User-Generated Content by Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo
An invaluable handbook for Information Professionals aka librarians. A goldmine of information for the rest of us. See my review. 4 stars

A Dog’s Journey by W. Bruce Cameron

This is a follow-up to A Dog’s Purpose which I read last year and loved so much. I highly anticipated the sequel but found it a little flat – I just couldn’t invest in C.J., or in the dog being a Chihuahua for a great deal of the book. I’m still glad I read it, though, and if you’re a dog lover, you’ll be glad you read it too. 4 stars

Manners for Women by Mrs. Humphrey
A reprint of the 1897 publication of the same name. Here are my thoughts on it. 3.5 stars

Lonesome Hero by Fred Stenson (Canadian author)
I’m sure I would have loved this when it was first published in 1973: my head was ‘there’ and the world was ‘there’, man. But the ‘there’ didn’t resonate with me now and just wanted to slap the young hero who is dragged to Europe (which turns out to be no further than England) and then dumped there by his girlfriend. For capturing a slice of 1970. 3.5 stars

Murder: A Crafty Business by Lila Philips (Nova Scotian author)
I love mysteries and Lila Philips is an author from Truro NS (the closest town to our village in Rural Nova Scotia). That I would read her book was a given. It’s a pretty standard cozy: the new owner of the town craft shop finds a body in the basement and has a vested interest in proving the police wrong. It was well-written and edited with decent plot but, ultimately, forgettable. 3.5 stars

Murder at Hazelmoor aka The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie
One of Christie’s stand-alone novels, it’s another standard cozy – a locked room mystery with a pretty obvious perpetrator. Although it wasn’t Christie’s best, I always enjoy the settings and her sleight-of-hand, even after I’m onto her. 3.5 stars

The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham
This is the first in Allingham’s long-running Albert Campion series, although in this book Campion has only a bit part, I wasn’t impressed by the mystery, and was distracted by all the implausible secret rooms and passageways. In addition, I thought the writing was ‘loose’. Since this was Allingham’s first published effort, I’ll make allowances and I won’t say that I’ll never read another of hers. I’m just not in a hurry to do so. 2.5 stars

One Lonely Night by Mickey Spillane
Oh, I wanted to like Mickey Spillane! Maybe it’s just his protagonist Mike Hammer who has skewed attitudes towards violence to women; maybe I’m just not a noir mystery fan after all. 2 stars

For Canadian readers:
The Story of Stuff
UContent
A Dog’s Journey
Manners for Women
Lonesome Hero
Murder: A Crafty Business
The Murder At Hazelmoor
The Crime at Black Dudley
One Lonely Night

Kindle editions:
The Story of Stuff
UContent
A Dog’s Journey
Lonesome Hero
One Lonely Night

Manners for Women is said to be a 1993 reprint of the book of the same name published in 1897. At first, I wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t a parody of such a book, but Internet sources (at least) tell me otherwise. The word out there seems to be that this is the genuine article, although I’m still not entirely convinced.

What made me think it’s a satire of a manners book? Besides my naturally suspicious nature? Such ‘modern’ comments as:

(I)t would be a good day when a League for the Mitigation of Outlay on Marriages should be started …

Doubts aside, Manners for Women was enjoyable to hold and read: it measures 4″x7″ (10cmx20cm), is soft-covered & light, and printed on an ivory matte paper. The advice is interesting: said to be aimed at the middle or merchant class – those who did not have these manners ‘bred’ into them as the gentry did, but who wished to be able to hobnob with them. But the language has a modern feel to it, certainly not as ‘wordy’ as a newspaper or a magazine of the era, and seems many times to accommodate today’s sensibilities:

At this end of the century one is first a woman, then a possible wife. There is one’s own life to be lived, apart from the partnership that may be entered into by and by. The idea used to be that it was a wife’s duty to sink her individuality completely, and live only for her husband.

Really, were attitudes this enlightened then? If so, the author writes with wit and candor, and with foresight beyond her times.

Genuine or a clever counterfeit, Manners for Women certainly shows that some things change:

In the country house there are usually but two, or at most three, postal deliveries daily, and the “rat-tat” [of the postman’s knock to pick up mail] is seldom, if ever, heard.

while others stay the same:

Nowadays (…) we live at such high pressure that it is only from friends living abroad that we ever expect a real letter.

Plus ce change plus c’est le meme chose

I’m looking forward to reading the author’s companion book “Manners for Men”.

I requested UContent through Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program, so I can blame only myself if the book wasn’t intended for me. It turns out that “Information Professional” really means librarian and those of us who are book lovers, blog writers and information junkies don’t make the cut. There is a touch of condescension while the author defines his audience. To be fair, though, Tomaiuolo doesn’t exhibit any more professional self-importance than any other expert in any other field would exhibit—perhaps less, while making clear his audience is the professional librarian.

So was there anything here for me? You bet!

Tomaiuolo defines UContent as “the production of content by the general public [such as bloggers] rather than by paid professional and experts in the field”, and not generally considered a reliable source of information. But Tomaiuolo recognizes that there can be nuggets of information out there that can be used by “information professional.’

The material is presented in a logical manner. Each chapter considers a separate UContent source. Topics include blogs, Wikis (including the grand-daddy Wikipedia), podcasts, online product reviews, self-publishing, and citizen journalism. The author also considers information sources within Facebook, Yahoo!Pipes, Flickr and custom search engines. He explains tagging & folksonomies, as well as cybercartography.

Tomaiuolo discusses in some detail the source of information in each category of UContent. His research appears to be extremely thorough (there are copious endnotes in each chapter). He includes an interview in each chapter with a professional in a related field – a professor of journalism, a self-published author, and so on. He also includes well-established on-line sources that will provide updated information before another print edition of this book could be published.

Next, Tomaiuolo performs a surprisingly balanced assessment of each subject’s use, and its relevance for the information professional. He describes how libraries might contribute to the Content (for example, having blogs or being on Facebook) and also how librarians might find relevant information and use it in their own environment, both for their own use and use by the public.

Each chapter of UContent is a veritable goldmine of information. I enjoyed reading it through like narrative non-fiction, although it isn’t that. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about using the Internet and finding information thereon, but Tomaiuolo taught me lots I didn’t know (what is/are folksonomies anyway, and why should I care?)

This book should become the bible of UContent reference for libraries. It is also a first-rate handbook for students doing research using the web. You’ll want to buy it and refer to it frequently. It’s well worth the investment!

For the rest of us non-professionals, it’s a valuable overview of web content for any blogger or generator of other UContent, plus it’s interesting to read, and it’s full of useful data. For us, I rate it a solid 4 stars.

(Thank you Library Thing Early Reviewers)

For Canadian readers:
UContent: The Information Professional’s Guide to User-Generated Content

Falling Into Green is billed as an “eco-mystery” and features Esmerelda (aka Emerald) Green, an ecopsychologist who uses horse-back riding, among other techniques, as patient therapy. Esmerelda quotes a report that says: “Ecopsychology acknowledges the environment as an important part of the human psyche.” Indeed, there are environmental concerns woven throughout both the mystery and the lifestyle of the protagonist.

I had a hard time liking Esmerelda (‘Ez’) Green. She comes across as a self-righteous fanatic about environmental issues. Her reasoning seems faulty to me.

Wondering why materialism has come to mean the same thing as beauty. I realized that if the idea of beauty is also connected to health, and subsequently cancer, we may all be jumping off a cliff. Really. How can we expect to survive if our health is connected to a beauty that seeks to find itself in the money derived from polluting ourselves?

Huh? How did we get from materialism to cancer?

Don’t get me wrong – I ‘m concerned about the planet too. I recycle, compost, hang my clothes to dry six months of the year, heat with wood instead of fossil fuels, and buy natural fabrics when I can. I drive a small car albeit not an electric one, I support wind power projects, buy locally when I can, and reuse rather than buy new if possible. But Ez rubs me the wrong way. She doesn’t seem to realize that there’s always more that all of us can do – her included, and that there are no easy answers to the issues facing the environment. Ez’s old couch with the ‘organic stitching’ just doesn’t impress me.

Note: Falling into Green is written in the first person simple present tense. This is no doubt a matter of personal taste, but I found this irritating, especially when it deteriorated into what seemed like stream-of-consciousness. This was especially the case when Ez goes into a trance (“fusing” with her horse, or hearing her dead mother talking through the jacaranda tree in her backyard).

The mystery hidden in all this judgemental posturing is actually decent. Ez is drawn into the current death of a young woman at the same cliff where her childhood friend killed herself 15 years earlier. She finds the two deaths to be related, and in doing so uncovers an environmentally sinister past & present of a local manufacturer. I think a couple of the main characters (the villains) seem over-drawn but I suppose that’s the price to pay for a plot of global proportions.

According to the author bio “Fischer has long been involved in environmental issues and is passionate about the green movement in the United States.” I would have been surprised to hear otherwise: she has an axe to grind and is trying to hit us over the head with that axe through her fiction.

3 stars for the solid mystery. I won this ebook format from Library Thing Early Reviewers.

One of the percs of country living is being able to see the stars. Countless nights, we have arrived home and stood outside our vehicles, head back and jaws open in awe. In the city, such viewing was impossible and limited to annual vacations in the ‘north’, or visits to a friend of a friend’s country place. (That didn’t happen often.)

Tonight is one of the best nights to have a ring-side seat to the stars because, of course, it’s time for the annual Perseids meteor shower, the best of the year – here in North America anyway.

So, just what is a shooting star? My research tells me that comets orbit continuously throughout our solar system. As the earth passes through a comet’s orbit on its way around the sun, some of the debris from the comet falls to earth as meteors. A meteor is a solid chunk of ice or metal that heats up the same way a space shuttle does when it passes through Earth’s upper atmosphere. They attain entry speeds of 12 – 18 miles per second and get hot enough to begin to vaporize. The evaporating gas from the meteor emits light, making the glow we see “shooting” by as the meteor falls toward the earth.

Unfortunately for me, today is the first rainy day in two weeks here and there will likely be too many clouds to see any stars at all tonight. But if you’re some place where you can observe this year’s show, here’s some tips I’ve picked up from country star-gazing.

• Get comfortable. A reclining chair, chaise or blanket on the ground will provide the best view and prevent a sore neck.

• Sitting or standing still outdoors can be a chilling experience, even in the summer. Bring a jacket or sweater and perhaps some blankets. This is especially important if you are accompanied by children who will be stretching out on the grass to watch the meteor shower.

• In many areas, you’ll want to use insect repellent to keep away mosquitoes and other pesky critters.

• Ten to 20 minutes before going outside, turn off all the lights in the house to help your eyes become accustomed to the dark. Of course, all of your outside lights should be off. If you find a lot of light in your neighborhood, you might organize a shooting star party, encouraging everyone to turn all of their inside and outdoor lights off for the evening and join you in watching the sky.

• While you’re waiting for the shooting stars, take a look around at the rest of the night sky. Next to the sun and moon, the planet Venus is the brightest object in the sky in the Northern hemisphere. You’ll see appear it above the western horizon just after sunset and may recognize it as the poetically named “Evening Star.” Or find Polaris, the North Star, around which the whole northern hemisphere sky seems to revolve.

Check a star map for what planets, stars and constellations are currently “showing” in your area. The trick to using a star map is to read it while holding it over your head. Suddenly, the ‘north” at the top and the ‘west’ to the right make sense!

• To see the Perseid meteor shower, look high in the northeast sky in the direction of the constellation Perseus and let your eyes relax and wander. The later you stay out, the better your chances are of seeing lots of shooting stars. After midnight, the earth turns into the direction of the meteor shower and you will see more meteors from the leading edge of the earth.

If you can’t get out tonight, when the Perseids shower is at its peak, there should still be some activity in the sky tomorrow night as well – and there’s always next year!

Are you going out to look for shooting stars?

I’m sitting here by my office window drinking in the smells and sounds of the first rain in several weeks.

I remember learning the word petrichor several years ago. It’s said to be the only English noun that means a specific scent: that distinctively pleasant fragrance of rain falling on dry ground after a long, dry spell. This gorgeous word was coined by two Australian geologists, I. J. Bear and R. G. Thomas, in a 1964 article that appeared in the journal Nature.

Whatever it’s called, I’m loving it!

And the cat seems to be enjoying it too!

We’ve been having a warm, sunny summer, conducive to the growing of lavender. The plants at Seafoam Lavender Farm 20 minutes from here are thriving (although I’m told they could soon use some rain).

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

Well, I should be halfway there…but I’m not.

Bev at My Reader’s Block has called for a half-year check-in on her Mount TBR Reading Challenge. I pledged to read 50 books – the Mount Kilimanjaro level. So far, I’ve read only 15 books that were on my own shelves on December 31, 2011.

Bev asks:
• How many miles does that correlates to on the real mountain?

In this case 5,800 – that’s over a mile high so maybe I’m not doing so badly. But I still have a long way to go. (Mount Kilimanjaro is 19,340 feet high.)

• Who has been my favorite character so far?

In the books from my bookshelves (as opposed to new books & those borrowed from the library), I’d have to choose Rush Melendy from The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. I had a huge crush on Rush when I was pre-teen and I still think him to be talented, sensitive, and smart. All the things a girl could want in a guy. [sigh]

• Have any of the books I’ve read surprised me?

I was surprised that I had a dislike for Mickey Spillane that came from my gut. I like mysteries, I’ve read noir before, but Spillane was just too hard-boiled for me.

I was also surprised by Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. I’ve wanted to read that book for 40 years – and I should have done it when I was younger. Now, I just wanted to shake him and tell him to grow up.

This is for you, Bev – it’s not a poem, but it uses(with poetic license) 12 of the 15 titles on my list.

ONE LONELY NIGHT
a girl had
A MIDSUMMER’S NIGHT DREAM
in which she saw
THE MAPPING OF LOVE AND DEATH
and
A SUITABLE BOY

Upon waking, she made in her heart
A PLACE FOR JOHNNY BILL
and they spent
THE SATURDAYS
of their youth walking
THE MARKET SQUARE DOG

When they retired from
(THEIR) FINANCIAL CAREER AND OTHER FOLLIES
they spent
THESE HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS
in
WALDEN
while
THE COYOTE (SANG) TO THE MOON

So: only fifteen of the 54 books I’ve read this year met the criteria for this challenge.

Time to burn (well, maybe hide) my library card.

This year, have you read mostly borrowed books, new books, or old friends from your own shelves?

Congratulations to Jennifer of Ragdoll Books Blog who has won my random drawing. Jennifer has chosen to receive a copy of Rohinton Mistry’s tour de force A Fine Balance.

If you like the books that I read, be sure to visit Jennifer’s blog. She seems to have similar tastes!

Thanks to all who took the time to peruse my book lists and enter this contest.

I’m taking part in Judith at Leeswammes‘ Literary Giveaway Blog Hop this week. If you’re just dropping by from the links, welcome and I hope you’ll subscribe. If you’re a regular reader – thank you!!

I’m offering any title from my list of the Best Books I Read in 2011 OR any book I’ve read this year to which I gave a 4, 4½, or 5 star rating, up to $15 from Book Depository. The contest is open to anyone who lives where Book Depository delivers. Contest closes 4 p.m. EDT June 27th. The winner will be selected randomly.

To enter, leave me a comment telling me which of those titles you think you’d like to win (don’t worry – that can be changed).

And then, hop on over to the other participating blogs. Have fun!

It’s summer now and time to take stock as to how I did with my personal reading goals in the Spring Reading Thing, hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days.

Katrina gave us some questions to help us sum up. Herewith, the answers, near as I can figure.

1) Did you finish reading all the books on your spring reading list? If not, why not?

I came up four books short of my eighteen book goal (missing Bertons’ Canadian Food Guide, Jane Eyre, Leacock: His Remarkable Life, and The History of the World in 100 Objects.) But I also read another 11 books that weren’t on the agenda. You can see my original list here.

2) Did you stick to your original goals or did you change your list as you went along?

See the answer to #1.

The library books I just had to read (but that weren’t on my list) included A Dog’s Journey, The Land of Decoration, Gillespie & I, and Notes to my Mother-in-Law.

3) What was your favorite book that you read this spring? Why?

I’ve read some good books so far this year but I’ve most enjoyed The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams, a fictional account of the life of Newfoundland’s first premier, Joseph Smallwood. I just loved Wayne Johnston’s style of writing. I’ve read a number of novels set in mid-century Newfoundland outports, but this was my first exposure to the attitude and experience of the “city people” from St. John’s – and of the politics that led to Newfoundland joining Canada in 1949.

4) Did you discover a new author or genre this spring? Did you love them? Not love them?

I read my first really hard-boiled detective novel: Mickey Spillane’s One Lonely Night. It’s a genre I won’t be exploring further. I found the protagonist’s attitude toward violence to women very disturbing.

I also explored some modern African writing via African Love Stories: An Anthology. I was intrigued and will definitely be trying to expand my reading horizon to include more by African authors.

5) Did you learn something new because of Spring Reading Thing 2012 – something about reading, about yourself, or about a topic you read about?

I confirmed that I continue to be distracted by all the glittery new books I see. I think it’s a sickness, but at least it’s books and not Gucci bags.

6) What was your favorite thing about the challenge?

The Spring Reading Challenge really helped me get a chunk of my 2012 Required Reading done, so I’m that much closer to meeting the other 63 challenges I’ve entered this year.

I particularly enjoyed cogitating on question #5. So I’m interested – what about you? Have you learned anything new from your reading this year – something about reading, about yourself, or about a topic you read about?

Thanks to Katrina for hosting this challenge!

A two-week ‘work-cation’ in Ontario, extra volunteer work, and regular runs to town for appointments kept me too busy in May to post to my blog (anybody miss me?) Here’s what I managed to get read, though.

1. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams: A Novel by Wayne Johnston

Fictional biography of Newfoundland’s famous premier, Joseph Smallwood. This is a tricky thing to do—using the facts of a person’s life and building a novel around them. I want to read a non-fiction biography of Smallwood and fix the “facts” in my mind soon.

I think the author did a great job of defining what drove Smallwood. Johnston’s prose goes down as smoothly as a spoonful of chocolate pudding.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. 5 stars

2. Notes to My Mother-in-Law by Phyllida Law

A sweet & short memoir of sorts, written in the titular notes by the author to her mother-in-law, who was hard of hearing and yet wanted the day’s news and arrangements. Both women sound like people I’d like to know, and Phyllida’s respect and affection for her mother-in-law are evident.

I found this a quick, charming read. 4½ stars

3. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Published in serial form in 1868 and now considered the first English language detective novel, the Moonstone sets up a closed room crime: the theft of the moonstone, a precious jewel stolen decades earlier from a Hindoo (sic) statue. Although all the clues were there for the reader to use, the solution seemed to me to be a little far-fetched.

Nonetheless, I found The Moonstone to be a witty and entertaining book. If you’re a dedicated mystery fan, you owe it to yourself to read this and appreciate the origins of the genre. 4 stars

4. African Love Stories: An Anthology, edited by Ama Ata Aidoo

By various authors and, as with any such collection, the mood and subject manner, as well as the style of writing varies greatly from tale to tale. And so did my reactions. Some stories were compelling, but some I could have willingly skipped. But all gave me a glimpse into modern African womanhood, an area with which I’m not very familiar.

Don’t let the title fool you – there’s not a traditional “love story” in the bunch. 4 stars

Thank you to Amy McKie at Amy Reads for this win.

5. Oxford Messed Up by Andrea Kayne Kaufman

Gloria Zimmerman, Rhodes Scholar from Chicago, and Henry Young, musician son of an Oxford don, find themselves next door neighbours (with a shared bath) in Oxford residence. Both have problems: Gloria is severely hampered by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Henry is a chronic underachiever who consistently sabotages his chances of success in any endeavour. Through their shared affection for the music of Van Morrison, they become acquainted and gradually build a romance. How they help each other is a lesson in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and love.

This is a well-written, sharply funny-but-sometimes-not-so tale and should appeal especially to those who have loved ones (or even friends or acquaintances) with OCD. It certainly helped me to better understand that disease. 3½ stars

6. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

A monster at 720 pages, this also first appeared as a serial in the mid-nineteenth century. In many ways, it’s a traditional love story with a sort of mystery in the middle.

I found it wordy (typical of its time) and the effect of the prose on me was likely amplified by reading it on my Kindle. I also thought the love story over-idealized (And what of the strong-and-capable-but-ugly sister? She’s satisfied just to be the couple’s hanger-on for the rest of her life?) In addition, I thought one of the main mystery elements was left completely unresolved at the book’s end.

For what it was for its time, I rate it 3 stars.

7. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

YA novel for which I had read a review that intrigued me. A teenager who commits suicide has left a set of tapes to be listened to by 13 people in sequence. Each played some part in her decision to end her life. It brought back to me the terrible angst that teenagers suffer.

Great for kids who often don’t realize how their small actions can have great effects. 3 stars

8. Promise Me Eternity by Ian Fox

Free e-book from the author received for review. Meant to be a popular fiction type murder mystery with the successful doctor on the brink of a scientific breakthrough, the mobster and his gorgeous wife. English is not the author’s first language and that is evident in the stilted conversations and in the sentence structure that sounds like a ninth grade exercise in creative writing.

One star because he tied up all the plot ends. Sorry, Ian.

Have you read any of these books? Agree or disagree with my ratings?

For Canadian readers:
The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams
Notes To My Mother-In-Law
The Moonstone
African Love Stories
Oxford Messed Up
The Woman in White
Thirteen Reasons Why

Kindle editions:
Notes to my Mother-in-Law
The Moonstone – FREE
Oxford Messed Up
The Woman in White – FREE
Thirteen Reasons Why
Promise Me Eternity

Since a Suitable Boy took me two full weeks to read, I completed only six books in April. And I posted no reviews at all.

After some consideration, I’ve decided to ramp up my volunteer work for the remainder of the year. This means that likely the only reviews I’ll be posting on my blog from here on in are these ‘minis’ at the end of each month. (And I refuse to feel guilty anymore!)

And, since you won’t be seeing individual reviews at Exurbanis, if you’d like more of my thoughts on any of these books, please leave a comment on this post and I’ll reply there.

1. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

Although this is alternately told from 1888 Glasgow and 1938 London, the main story is the earlier one. Harriet Baxter recalls two years in the lives of the Ned Gillespie family.

We know almost immediately that Harriet will prove to be an unreliable narrator and trying to see past her perspective to what really happened is lots of fun. 4½ stars

2. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Set during an 18-month period in 1950-51 India, just a few years after Partition, it involves several families of the upper Hindu castes, and a Muslim family. The story was decent and the class perspective a different one than I had encountered in the past, but it was just plain too long.

At 1,349 pages in hardcover (1,488 in the paperback that I read), this is one of the longest English language novels ever written. Was it worth two weeks of my life? Meh, I don’t think so. 4 stars

3. The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen

A ten-year-old girl, devoutly religious and emotionally estranged from her father, is bullied at school – and then more. How she and her father react to the persecution that comes because of their religion, her father’s status as a factory ‘scab’ during a major strike in the town, and the psychological twistedness of the bully and his father, forms the core story.

I couldn’t stop turning the pages, but other readers may not feel the same. This book can be interpreted in many, many ways and I’m certain it will be the source of numberless discussions and widely varying reactions. 4 stars

4. Winnie and Gurley: The Best-Kept Family Secret by Robert G. Hewitt
When Hewitt published NO INSTRUCTIONS NEEDED: An American Boyhood in the 1950s, evidently several readers took him to task because he had not elaborated on the grandmother with whom he had spent so many childhood hours.

He was fortunate enough to inherit the ephemera and other materials that allowed him to trace the courtship and married life of his grandparents, and to discover a disturbing family secret.

Anyone who has tried tracing their family tree will be fascinated by this. 4 stars

5. The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs, Book 7) by Jacqueline Winspear

I love Maisie Dobbs. And, until this book, I’d loved all the stories in this mystery series. The book wasn’t bad, mind you, and provided lots of interesting details about the mapping of war.

But there were just a couple too many coincidences that advanced the solving of the mystery to suit me: Maisie’s friend just happened to try to match-make her at dinner with a man who just happened to know a guy who made films of the troops in WWI and who just happened to have filmed a cartography unit (and all this just happened to have come up in dinner conversation 14 years after the end of said war). The cartography unit caught on film just happened to be the one Maisie was looking for, and the villain just happened to be visiting the unit that day and was captured on celluloid trying to stop the film crew.

You get the picture. And I didn’t think the clues were fair enough to allow the reader to solve the case – unless one must consider that anyone and everyone introduced in the gathering of information might be more involved than that. I hadn’t noticed this element in previous Maisie books.

ANYWAY – I still love Maisie and I’m going to continue reading this series, hoping that this is just a blip in Winspear’s otherwise impeccable record. 3½ stars

6. A Place for Johnny Bill by Ruth Bishop Juline

I read this for the Books That Made Me Love Reading Challenge. Johnny Bill Mason is the eldest child in a family of migrant workers, following the crops around the southeastern US in the late 1950s.

I remember checking this out of our public library time after time after time. I must have been fascinated by the poverty of these people – people who had less money than my working-class family. And who were poor in more than finances: Johnny Bill’s greatest dream was to settle someplace so he could get some book-learning and have a dog. We didn’t have a dog, but I had a home and a school routine, and lots of books to read.

Unfortunately, A Place for Johnny Bill hasn’t stood the test of time or perspective for me. 3 stars

For Canadian readers:

Gillespie & I

A Suitable Boy

The Land Of Decoration

The Mapping Of Love And Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

Kindle editions:

Gillespie and I

The Land of Decoration

Winnie and Gurley: The Best-Kept Family Secret

The Mapping of Love and Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

Lobster fishing season opens Tuesday!

Last week the boats in Toney River, Nova Scotia were lined up ready to take on their traps (seen piled on the wharf in the background).

The meme Snapshot Saturday is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.

The Saturday Snapshot meme is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.

I took this on Wednesday in beautiful Malagash Nova Scotia. The water of the Northumberland Strait (part of that same North Atlantic that sunk the Titanic) really was that blue.

Could you tell that it was was only 5C / 40F?